Learning Team Muda Audit

Abstract

This case describes the meetings and development of a fictitious learning team at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. The purpose is to give students the opportunity to perform a waste audit on the learning processes of this team. The case gives students the opportunity to identify muda, non-value added activities, in a non-manufacturing environment. The case can be used in an operations course with the focus on process improvement and/or an organizational behavior course focused on personal time management and working in teams. Excerpt UVA-OM-1688 Apr. 14, 2020 Learning Team Muda Audit The Case Method at Darden The Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia (Darden), a top-ranked graduate business school located in Charlottesville, Virginia, utilized a heavily case-based approach to learning. Almost every class session (generally 90 minutes long) featured a full-length business case study and often a short explanatory article, or technical note. People unfamiliar with the case method might mistakenly assume that a business case study was simply an interesting real-world contextual example that allowed students to explore the practical implications of a business concept or framework. It was true that the use of case studies did provide real-world examples of the business topics being studied. But the case method offered something in addition that was far more preparatory than simply a good example in context—classroom replication of the leadership struggle to make sound decisions in the absence of definitive information. Most case studies were told from the perspective of a protagonist, who was generally an individual tasked with evaluating options for a business decision with potentially very different outcomes. In order to solve the case (or come as close as possible—sometimes there was no correct answer), students had to closely read the case study as well as any supplementary material, and be prepared to provide an analysis and recommendation on the best path forward. The persuasiveness and confidence with which students were able to present their views was another key component of the case method, since business leaders in the real world were generally successful only to the degree to which they could communicate with and convince others to support their decisions and visions for the future. . . .